The House Party
by thornk97
Summary: When the Glass house decides to have a house party, will it turn out the way they hoped?
1. The Best Idea Ever!

"Oh My God Claire, I have just had the best idea EVER!"

Claire, looking away from the celebrity magazine she was reading about who was the hottest male celeb of the year (which she didn't agree with their answer anyway), sighed. Even though she loved Eve to bits, some of her ideas were a little... wierd. Her judgement of 'the best idea ever' was generally a lot different to Claire's and everybody else's in Morganville. In a town full of vampires, if you were seen to be strange or odd, like Eve was, then that was a little bit alarming. Claire glanced up to be Eve's expression, which was pure excitement, not something you'd think would mix well with the whole 'goth' thing she had going on. It dimmed a little when she noticed the look on Claire's face.

"Oh come on Claire, it's not that bad. Just listen for a minute, will you?"

"Alright then. What's your idea?"

"We are going to throw a house party!"

"A house party? Really? And by we, you mean us as a house right?"

"Well yeah, obviously. Who else could I mean?"

Claire shook her head. In Eve's world, 'we' could mean anyone, or thing.

"Anyway, so we are going to throw a house party right here. Doesn't that sound great?"

"Err yeah I guess so, but who would we invite? And would anybody even come?"

"Course. Why wouldn't they? People love to party, especially in Morganville. You should have seen some of the parties i've been to in the past." Eve laughed to herself and was about to say more when she remembered Claire's age and stopped, which was ridiculous because Claire was 17 (which is a year younger than Eve) but Eve takes the 'over-protective mother figure' job pretty seriously.

"So who are we going to invite?"

"Everybody and anybody. Well maybe not anybody coz i don't really think we should be inviting vampires. You know how they can be..." She trailed off. She didn't need to finished that thought aloud. They all knew just what vampires could get like, especially those under the influence of alcohol and god knows what else you get a house parties. If a group of vampires were inviting, or even just show up, it could turn into a hunt (which Claire and Eve knew about all to well) or worse. They could find a dead body at the end of the night. Neither one was good, mainly because of the reputation they had as a house. Somehow, all the bad things that happened seemed to get pinned on them. So if a dead person was found in their house, at their party... Claire didn't even want to finish that thought. The consequences of that would be brutal for them, no doubt about it.

"Have you told Michael and Shane about this yet?2

"Nope, your the first one to heard about it."

"But you going to tell them?"

"Of course I will"

"Tell who about what?" That was Michael's voice. They glanced over to see him just coming down the stairs, beads of water still dripping from his hair. As they looked, Shane wandered down. It was obvious that he had just gotten out of bed, from the massive bedhead he was rocking. Not that Claire was complaining. It still made her growl in response. He was so perfect and he was hers. That was still something she couldn't completely grasp. He was so hot and sexy, so why was he interested in her? He plonked down next to her on the couch and planted a warm damp kiss on her lips. It was only a quick, sweet one, not one of his dirty, sexy ones, but she still craved more and scooted closer to him.

"Morning sleepyhead. And what time do you call this?"

"Too early." Shane replied and wrapped his arm around her waist, pulling her closer to him. She smiled and rested her head on his chest. He was so big and warm, which made her feel small in comparison, but that was alright. She felt always felt protected and although it sometimes annoyed her, she knew that Shane would always protect her and the motive behind it made her shiver and blush. He tilted her chin up and gazed into her eyes. "Something wrong?"

"Not now." He smiled and pulled her face to his. The kiss was sweet and damp and his lips were the perfect moisture and pressure. It deepened quickly and became more urgent. She barely remembered that there were other people in the room until someone coughed. She pulled away from him and blushed, which made him chuckle and tighten his grip around my waist.

"Ok now that that is over, are one on of you going to answer my question?" Michael said.

"And what question was that?" Eve said catching my eye and winking, making me blush more.

"Tell who about what?"

"Tell you two about the house party Eve's planning to have here." Claire replied.

"Sweet." Shane said and grinned. "Sounds like a good idea to me."

Michael turned his head and looked at Eve, eyebrows raised.

"A house party, Eve? Really? Is that a good idea? You know what could happen."

"Of course I know what could happen. I'm not dumb."

"Well..." Shane said under his breath. Claire elbowed him in the ribs, a clear warning to shut up. "Ow" he said, which clearly showed that it didn't hurt at all. Eve glared at him for a second then turned back to Michael.

"I understand the dangers of it but it would be fun. We could show people that we aren't bad." We all gave her a look. "Ok" she amended, "that we're not _that_ bad. And besides people in Morganville love to party. We could turn it into a rave, with lights, music, drinks, everything. It going to be great." There was about two seconds of silence as Michael thought about it.

"Ok then fine, but be careful who you invite. We don't need vamps coming through and tearing up the place. It's bad enough with all the college students. We don't need that as well. And by the way, you're on clean up duty afterwards." Eve smiled and winked at him. She got up, pecked him on the lips and walked towards the kitchen.

"Anyone want a coffee?"

"Yeah." Claire, Michael and Shane said at the same time and grinned at each other. Eve rolled her eyes and wandered into the kitchen.

"Was this your idea as well?" Michael asked Claire.

"Nope. It was all Eve's. And don't worry, she does know about the whole vamp thing. I'll make sure that she doesn't invite the whole town." Claire said and smiled, knowing all to well that Eve was capable of doing just that. Michael smiled back, got up and went into the kitchen.

"So, what are you going to wear then. To this party I mean. Please say something short and tight." Shane said and grinned at Claire. She rolled her eyes.

"Boys. Is that all you think about. And I don't know yet. Eve will probably make me going shopping with her for something. But don't worry, i'll make sure that it's something you'll approve of." Claire smiled and winked at him and suddenly he pulled her close and kissed her fiercely. His lips trailed over to her ear and he whispered.

"I can't wait." His lips slide down to her neck and he kissed up and down, making her moan and bury her hands in his warm, soft hair. He smelt so good. But then again, he always did. Kind of musky, but with a dark undertone that was all his own. His lips moved back to hers and she opened her mouth. The kisses now became more urgent and Shane groaned. A lick of her tongue turned the kiss into something firery and wild and she didn't know how far it was going to go... until Eve's voice called out, "coffee's ready" and Claire sighed and moved away from Shane, licking her damp, tingling lips.

"Stop doing that jailbait, unless you want your coffee to get cold." Shane smiled evilly and tickled her. She squealed and ran into the kitchen, which Shane in hot pursuit. She grabbed her cup off the counter and slid into the seat opposite Eve. Shane grabbed his own cup and sat in the seat next to hers. He smiled at her before taking a long sip of his coffee. He liked his black, with no flavouring. She had to have flavouring on hers, especially sugar and cream. She sipped her coffee, which was perfect, as always. As Eve served coffee everyday for her job, you couldn't really expect anything else.

"So Claire, there's one more thing I forget to mention." Eve said happily.

"What's that?"

"We _have_ to go clothes shopping. We are going to get some smoking hot new outfits to knock 'em dead." Eve winked and sipped at her coffee. Claire smiled at her. She knew it was coming and to be honest, was actually looking forward to it.

While Eve and Michael were cleaning up, Claire said quietly to Shane, "see I told you she would want us to go shopping. Eve would never pass up an opportunity to get a new dress." She grinned because knew it was exactly what Eve would do.

Under his breath, Claire heard Shane say, "I can't wait to see what get." She looked at him, blushed at the look on his face and hurried to get her backpack for school.


	2. Dress Shopping

Eve took Claire to one of the better clothes shops in Morganville. There were a lot of bad, second-hand shops, but for their party, they needed the best. As they entered, a little tinkled to signal their arrival.

"So CB, what kind of dress are you thinking of. If you don't have anything, I have my own ideas..." She trailed off. Claire looked at her face and saw the excitement in it. She sighed.

"What are your ideas? And should I be worried?" Eve rolled her eyes and pulled me to an area of the shop that was purely for dresses.

"Ok so I'm thinking we should go for something tight and short." She saw the expression on my face. "If you've got it, flaunt it Claire and trust me, you've got it. We want they guys to be interested in you and for that, you need to show off your assets." Huh. It was strange to see that Eve thought like Shane, which was extremely wierd and creepy. But at least Claire knew that Eve wasn't think about it in a pervy way, just in a way that would hopefully make Claire feel more confident about herself. Eve was mumbling to herself and pulling dresses off the racks and holding them up to Claire's small frame. "No not the right colour... That's too short... I don't like the style... Ah ha, got it. This one is SO perfect for you. Trust me."Claire held it up. It was plain black, strapless and looked extremely short. She looked at Eve wide-eyed. There was no way she could wear this. "Oh come on Claire, I know it might look bad, but trust me, it's perfect." She smiled and began riffling through the racks for her own dress. After a few minutes, she squealing and grabbed a dress and held it up. It was red and black, strapless like mine and was also short. It was exactly like what Eve would wear.

"That looks like you, Eve."

"Doesn't it just. It's perfect. Exactly what I wanted. Thank you Morganville." She squealed and pulled me towards the changing rooms. "Come on, we have to try these on." She went into one and Claire went into another. She looked at the dress again. There was no way she could wear this. In public. What would everyone think? Then she thought about what Shane would think if she wore it and it made her blush. He had said 'short and tight'. Well this did match that description. "What the hell." She mumbled and pulled off her vest top, jeans and converse. She had just got the dress on when Eve called, "Well, what does it look like?" Claire looked at herself in the mirror, and then again. Wow. Eve was good. It was perfect. It showed her off in all the right places. "Come on Claire, tell me. Did I get it right?"

"Definately!" Claire said as she opened the curtain and walked out. Eve squealed again. She clapped her hands and jumped up and down.

"It is perfect. So you. You have to get it. I am a genius!" While she was talking, Claire noticed Eve's outfit. It looked great on her and it was perfect for her body shape. It was figure-hugging, just like Claire's was.

"Wow Eve. You look great."

"I know right. It is so me." They looking in the mirror at their reflections again and grinned at one another. "This is going to be fun." Eve said.

"Lets get changed then." Claire said and she and Eve walked back into their changing rooms. After they were finished changing, Claire walked towards the counter to pay. Eve stopped her. "What?" Claire asked.

"We haven't finished yet. We still need to get shoes and accessories. Come on CB." She pulled Claire to the shoes. After twenty minutes, they had both picked their shoes and accessories. Eve had a skull necklace, skull earrings and chunky black and red Doc Marten boots that matched her dress. Claire had a long necklace with a heart on the end, silver dangly earrings that looked perfect on her and plain black shoes, which were extremely high, Claire thought, but Eve had insisted on them. "They look perfect on you and they go with the whole outfit. You have to get them." As they piled their stuff on the counter, and checked it all out, Claire laughed to herself and said,

"Did we really need to get all this stuff? I doubt the boys are putting in this much effort."

"Yes we did need all of this. We had to look right and girlfriend, boy do we look good." They grinned at each and handed over the money to the cashier. "As for the boys, well obviously they won't put in this much effort, but I'll make sure they look good on the night. Even Shane." Claire laughed at that. Shane would definately prefer to wear his jeans and a t-shirt instead of dressing in something nice. She couldn't really see how Eve was going to get him to agree to that. It would probably be quite entertaining to watch.

"Ok Eve so what's next?"

"Next is food, music and drinks. But it's all covered. Michael is sorting music. Apparently he knows someone who DJ's, and he said he will talk to him. As for food and drinks, I should be able to convince Shane to give me a hand with that. The party is on Saturday night, by the way. It starts at 9pm."

"Have you sorted out who's coming?"

"Now that's where you come in. I need your help to hand out flyers at the university. Can you do that?"

"Sure, that's fine."

"Cool." By now we were back at Eve's car and were putting our bags into the boot. We drove home, talking about how cool the party was going to be, how nice our dress were etc etc. When we got back, we walked into the living room to find Shane and Michael just finishing one of their games. "Hey guys, were back." Eve said and dumped her stuff on the table.

"Hey. So have you finished dress shopping and shoe shopping." Michael replied, smirking at Eve.

"Don't forget about accessories, Mike. I mean, they are the key to the outfit, or so i'm told." Shane grinned and he and Michael high-fived. Eve flipped them off and wandered into the kitchen. Michael laughed and followed her in. Claire sat down in his vacated seat. "So what did you get? A dress? Please tell me it's short and tight, please." The look of hope on Shane face was so hilarious that Claire had to laugh.

"I'm not going to tell you. You'll have to wait and see." Claire said, getting up and picking up her bags.

"Don't I get a sneak-peak?"

"Nope." She said. "You can see it when everyone else does." She winked at him and walked up the stairs.

"Hey, that's not fair. You can't make me wait until Saturday night."

Claire stopped on her way up the stairs and turned to face him. "Err, yes I can and I am. You have to wait. I'm sure you'll be fine. What are you going to wear anyway?" The look on Shane's face pretty clearly said that he hadn't even thought about it.

"I don't know yet. Probably some jeans, a t-shirt, trainers..." He trailed off at the look on Claire's face. "What?"

"Do you really think Eve will let you dress like that?" She said, smiling at the blank look on his face. Then he got it and the look of horror on his face was priceless.

"She's going to dress me and Michael up, isn't she?" Claire nodded. "No way. Not happening. I'm not letting her."

"You don't really have a choice and besides, I told her that I'd help." Claire grinned evilly and ran up the stairs, narrowly missing the cushion Shane threw her way. It hit the wall and fell onto the floor. Claire laughed and walked into her room. She couldn't wait for Saturday to come around. It was going to be fun.


	3. Preparation

Claire's POV

"Done." Eve said on saturday night, at 8:45pm. We'd just finished decorating downstairs. It looked great. Michael had managed to make a deal with this guy from the music store and had gotten us some geniune DJ gear and lighting that they used for raves.

"It looks so good." I said, smiling at Eve. She really did know how to plan a party. Eveything was ready downstairs and the DJ was about to arrive. Shane and Michael had gone a little over-board on the alcohol. They had brought loads more than we'd asked for. They were probably planning on getting drunk, as was Eve but apparently I wasn't allowed to get drunk because i'm 'underage' which strikes me as wierd because so are they. I'm only a year younger than them.

"I know right. Tonight is going to be perfect." Eve glanced at her watch. "Oh man, it's almost time and we're not even dressed yet."

"At least me and Mikey don't need half an hour to put make up on, unlike you." Shane grinned at Eve, who flipped him off and smiled.

"Speak for yourself. Like you don't take forever to mouse your hair, or whatever it is you do, man." Michael grinned at Shane, who shot him the finger and plonked onto the couch. "I'm gunna go get ready."

"Me too." Eve said and her and Michael walked up the stairs together.

"Aren't you going to go and get changed?" I asked Shane, who didn't look like he was going to move anytime soon.

"Course. But I wanna chill for a bit. Lifting all that alcohol has worn me out."

"You are such a slacker, Shane Collins. A little bit of work and your knackered." I smiled at him and started towards the stairs.

"Hold on. I want to talk to you for a minute, while we're on our own." Shane pulled me to a stop and looked at me head-on. "I want you to promise me you'll be careful tonight. I know how guys get at these things and I don't want you to get hurt, you understand?" I nodded. I knew all to well what could happen if you trusted the wrong person, and so did Shane. "Look, I know you might think it's ridiculous but I worry about you. There's gunna be drinking, and probably lots of it, and then things happen. I just don't want anything to happen to you."

"It's not just me though. It's Eve as well."

"Yeah but Eve can look after herself. And she's got Michael. God knows no-one will mess with her if Michael there and from what I know, he isn't letting her our of his sight. You know why." At first I was clueless and then I got it. Her dress. When Michael sees her in it, he is definately not letting go of her.

"Yeah I guess so. But don't worry. I'll be careful." I smiled at him and he pulled me in for a warm, lingering kiss. I sighed as our lips parted.

"Don't worry." He whispered into my ears. "That's just got to last you until tonight and then..." He left the sentence hanging, clearly showing what he meant by the look in his eyes. I blushed and averted my gaze.

"Stop it!"

"Stop what?"

"Looking at me like that." I explained. "It makes me nervous."

"Good. You look real cute when your nervous." He grinned at my expression. "Come on. Let's get changed. I can't wait to see your outfit." We walked up the stairs. I went to my room and shut the door. I got the dress, shoes and accessories I had just brought out of my closet and put them on. The dress looked as good on as I remembered it. I put my make up on and by the time I was finished, I didn't think I looked like me anymore. I looked sexy and mysterious. Shane was going to love this, I thought and headed out the door.

Shane's POV

I finished getting dressed and walked back down stairs. Michael was there, but neither of the girls were. I didn't really expect them to be though. We looked at each other and laughed.

"Eve?" I said to Michael, eyebrows raised and gesturing to his outfit. Which was a dark red shirt and dark pants. Not too different to what I was wearing, which was a dark blue shirt and black pants.

"Eve." was all he said and he smiled. So she had managed to convince both of us to dress up a little. I laughed out loud. That girl was like her own force of nature, kind of like a hurricane. So basicallly, don't get in her way.

"Hey, you guys look pretty good. Expect for you, Collins. You could have at least attempted to comb your hair." She said and came to fiddle with hair until it was exactly as she wanted it to be, which was annoying.

"Thanks Goth Princess, you don't look to bad yourself." I wasn't even joking. I have a girlfriend, so I wasn't completely checking her out, and she's Eve, but... damn. She did look pretty good. She had on a tight-fitting red and black dress that was pretty short, with red and black Doc Martens that matched and skull-themed earrings and a skull necklace. She couldn't wear any outfit without a skull on it.

"Wow, the nicest thing you've said to me ever. What's wrong with you?" I laughed at her expression.

"You made me dress up." She laughed and walked over to Michael. They kissed and it became pretty awkward, so I looked away. I looked back at them when Michael said,

"You look great." The smile on his face was one of the most genuine things i've ever seen on him. He really did love Eve. You could see it in the way they looked at each other.

"You look great yourself." Eve said and pecked him on the lips. "Rockstar." The look they shared was way too intimate for the middle of the living room.

"So, guys, you finished yet?" I asked, just to break the stare between them. I was making me feel really awkward and I wished Claire would come down already.

"What? We aren't allowed to compliment each others looks? You haven't even seen Claire yet. Just you wait 'til you do." She stared at me and winked.

"Have you seen what she looks like?"

"Yeah. Well, i've seen the dress and that's hot enough on its own." I smiled. I could fully guess how hot she was going to look and don't judge, I'm a guy. Eve broke through my train of thought by saying, "Speaking of hot..."

I heard someone on the stairs and looked over to see Claire coming down. She looked amazing. The image in my head was hot, but the reality was so much hotter. I actually think my mouth dropped open. She was wearing a tight (and I mean extremely tight) black dress and plain black high heels, with long silver earrings and a long heart necklace. The dress was really short, not that I was complaining. She blushed under her make up and looked down, probably checking if she looked alright.

"So what do you think? Do I look ok?" She asked, staring at me uncertainly. I don't know how to tell her how 'ok' she looked.

I shut my mouth and looked her up and down. When I finally raked my eyes away from her body, I forced myself to stay focused on her face, as I said, "You look amazing." I walked over to her and put my arms around her. She kissed me and I moaned. The kiss deepened and I kissed along her jaw to her ear. "No, you look better than amazing. You look so sexy right now." I felt her shiver and brought my lips back to hers. We continued to kiss until someone, probably Eve, coughed and laughed. I leaned away from Claire and winked at her and she blushed and looked away. I smiled and turned to face Michael and Eve, keeping my arms wrapped around Claire. No way was I letting her go. Not tonight. Not ever.

"Girlfriend cleans up pretty good, don't you think?" Eve asked and Michael chuckled. They exchanged a look and grinned at each other, then at me and Claire.

"Yeah she does." I said and tightened my grip around Claires waist.

"How long 'til the party starts?" Claire asked.

"Not long." Michael said. "Unless you want us to delay it while you, um... continue." He looked at me and gave me a stare. I knew what he meant, so I flipped him off and he grinned.

"Nope, let's get this party started." I kissed Claire on the forehead and walked towards the drinks table. Michael, with a grin still on his face, popped the top off a bottle and handed it to me.

"To later." He said and I nodded, all to aware of what he meant. We clinked glasses, took a swig, just as the door bell went off.

"Here we go." I heard Claire mumble to herself, as Eve went to answer the door.


	4. Too Close For Comfort

It was suprising how quickly the house filled up. In what seemed like no time at all, the house was packed with college students and morganville natives. The lights flashing, the music blaring and people were dancing everywhere. As Claire walked into the living room, she looked her right to see a game of strip poker taking place. Some of the girls were in their bra and pants, while the guys seemed to be fully dressed still. Obviously there was some cheating going on there. In the other corner there was... Claire didn't actually know what the hell that was but there was no way she was going anywhere near that corner of the room. In the middle of the room, but the table, there seemed to be drinking games happening. Eve was there, with two girls that Claire thought she recognised from the university coffee bar. Michael was a few feet away, talking to the DJ. He kept glancing over at Eve to see if she was alright. That was sweet, Claire thought. Shane was over by the beer barrels, laughing with two guys Claire didn't recognise.

She was about to go and talk to him when a guy stepped in front of her. He was a university student, she thought, as he looked familiar, but she didn't know where she knew him from. "This is an awesome party. Thanks for inviting me. I hope you don't mind but I made copies and passed the flyer around.I didn't think you'd mind."

"No that's fine. Er thanks for that."

"So, how have you been, Claire?" He asked, a smile on his lips.

"Er, yeah i've been good thanks. You?" Claire asked wondering how he knew her name. She never talked to him. Well, at least she thought she'd never talked to him. She couldn't place where she knew him from.

"Oh you know, same old, same old. Much better now i'm here with you thought. You look real hot tonight, you know." Claire hadn't really been listening to him, but that snapped her attention back to him. Fast.

"Erm... would you excuse me. I just need to go and see someone." She was about to head straight for Shane, but then he grabbed her and pulled her down the hall and into the parlour at the front of the house. No-one was in here. They were all alone. The noise of the party flooded through the door, but was muffled when he shut the door... and locked it. He turned to face her and stepped towards her. Claire cringed. This was nothing like when Shane comes into her room. This is the flip side to men. She became all too aware a second later that Shane, Michael and Eve were all in the living room and didn't even know she was here. If she couldn't get out, they would be able to hear her. Michael might have been able to, but that was unlikely over the noise of the music, blasting through the house.

"Now, don't be like that Claire. I thought we should spend some time together, you know. Get to know one another." Claire took another step back, as he took another one forward. He stepped forward again and she stepped back again and fell on the sofa. She sat back up quickly to see him walk forward again. He was only a few steps away now. "Ok, let's start this again, shall we? I'm Matt. And your Claire. But, you see I already knew that." He held out his hand for her to shake, but she just looked at it. "Oh come on Claire, I don't bite." He laughed to himself. It was a harsh, predatory laugh and it set Claire's nerves on edge.

"What do you want from me?" Claire couldn't think of anything else to say. Was he a vampire? No. He had a bracelet on showing his protectors symbol on it. It wasn't one Claire recognised.

"You personally, I don't want anything from. Well maybe one thing..." In a move to quick for Claire to clearly see, he was sat down the on the couch next to her. She scooted as far over as she could, which wasn't very far. "To fully answer your question, yes I do want something. But not from you. Your just...well, a favour, I suppose. A favour to a friend of mine." And then Claire could place him. He was from Monica's group. Probably one of her little minions.

"It's Monica right? Your friend? Well let me tell you, she's got it wrong. Whatever she said to you, it's a load of bull." As she finished talking, she saw him shake his head.

"You don't even know what she said about you."

"I can guess." Claire said and cringed when he moved closer. He was way to close for comfort now.

"She said that you're easy and that if I did this, she'd... Well you don't need to know the extent of what she'd do. It private." I shivered as he moved a piece of hair back from my face. "Cold?" He asked, a smile spreading across his lips.

"No." Claire said firmly. She swatted his hand away. He was so creepy and he kept trying to touch her. It brought back memories of when she was drugged at her first house party, when she and Eve had gone to find Sam, Michael's grandfather. She trusted a guy there as well and he'd turned out to be one of Monica's friends as well. Claire was brought out of her reverie, when he placed his hand on her bare knee. "Hey! Keep your hands off of me-" Claire's sentence was cut short by him planting kiss on her lips and his hands were grabbing her hips, her arms, her bum. Claire managed to get her hands to his chest and she shoved him off. She darted off the couch and to the door, but he got there first and stepped in her path, blocking the door.

"Where do you think your going, sweetheart." He stepped towards her and reached out his hands. Claire knew she had to down something now. So she kicked him where it hurts most. He yelped and collapsed to the floor, writhing in pain. Claire unlocked the door, pulled it open and stumbled into the hallway.

"Well, I wonder what you were doing in there." Claire knew that voice. It was Monica Morrell. She walked out of the shadows, followed by her ever-present groupies, Gina and Jennifer. She smiled at Claire, bittersweet and poisionous. "Does Shane know about what you get up to at these parties?" She smirked at Claire's face. "I'll take that as a 'no' then. If I remember correctly, didn't this happen before, at another party you went to. Isn't that about right, girls?"

"Yep." Gina said. Jennifer just nodded.

"Is this going to become a habit of yours Claire?" Monica laughed evilly.

"You set him up to it, didn't you?" Claire asked. She already knew the answer anyway.

"Me? Well I am offended. What makes you think I would do this?" Monica tried to look sweet and innocent, but Claire wasn't fooled.

"Because it's exactly the sort of thing you would do. And you didn't it before. Why wouldn't you do it again?" Claire glared at Monica, which made her smile wider.

"Oh Claire, you really are clever aren't you? But the problem is, I know you'd try and get me into trouble for this but, you see, you can't. For one thing, no-one would believe, excpet for your 'friends', but their not exactly the brightest sparks are they. And I'm the mayors daughter, not to mention my brother's a cop, so who are they more likely to believe. Me or you?" She laughed at the end and then smiled at me. "Thanks for the invite to your party, Claire. It was fun. See you around." She walked towards the front door and opened it. Gina and Jennifer walked through it, but stopped on the porch. "Oh and one more thing." Monica turned back to me. "You'd better watch your back." She grinned evilly and walked out, and the three of them laughed and got into Monica's red convertable. There was the sound of rubber squealing on concrete and then in seconds in was gone and the night was quiet again. Claire shivered and closed the door. She stood there for a few seconds more, and then walked back down the corridor, back towards the party.

As she entered the living room, she realised that nobody had even noticed her disappearance. Everyone was just as they were before. Claire let out a shakey breath and walked towards the drinks table. She got a bottle of water, cracked the seal, and took a swig. She hadn't realised how thirsty she was until the water hit her tongue, and then she couldn't swallow it fast enough. She drank three-quarters of the bottle before re-sealing the lid. She hadn't noticed, but her hands were shaking. She put the bottle on the table and wrapped her arms around herself. Why was it suddenly so cold in here?

"Hey." She felt someone's hand on her arm and flinched. It was Shane. He looked a little confused and hurt. "Is everything ok?"

"Sorry. I'm just a little bit shaky."

"Is something wrong?" He tilted her chin up to get a better look at her face.

She smiled at him and kissed him on the lips. At first he didn't respond, and then he did. He wrapped his arms around her, securing her in warmth. The kiss deepened and a lick of her tongue turned it into something hot and wild. His hands ran down the side of her ribcage and to her hips. They kept moving down, and then he grabbed her bum. She gasped into his open mouth and she felt him smile in response. She snaked her arms around his neck and buried her fingers in his hair. All of a sudden, she felt a wall behind her. Shane was pressing his body against hers and he was so big and warm and... The kiss stopped and they pulled apart, gasping for air.

"What was that for?" Claire asked, still panting. Her lips felt damp, deliciously damp.

"Why not? Oh and it's a little taster of what's to come later." He smiled at her and gave her another deliciously wet kiss. "So are you feeling better now?"

Claire had forgotten all about what happened earlier. But now it didn't feel as bad, not now she was here with Shane and he was looking at her with a hunger in his eyes. "Everythings fine now." She said and wrapped her arms around his neck. "Now that you're here."

The rest of the night was amazing. Claire spend most of it dancing with Shane. Everytime their eyes met, she blushed and looked away. He smiled at he and this sent another wave of heat through her body. God, he was perfect. By the time everyone had left and they had attempted to clean up, Claire was exhausted, as were all of them.

"I think that's the last of the cups." Shane said, dumping a bin bag full of plastic red cups next to the table and collapsing on the couch. "I'm knackered."

"You've only had to dump cups in a bag, how can you be knackered? Some people have been cleaning up god-knows what off of the floor and funiture." Eve said. She shivered at the memory. No way was she letting horny college students into the house again.

"At least it wasn't in our rooms." Claire said. " That would have been worse."

"True." Eve said and sighed. "Right. I'm going to bed. We'll clear the rest of this up in the morning. Night." She started to walk up the stairs, but stopped and looked at Michael. The look only lasted for a second, but it was enough. They all knew what it meant.

"God, guys. Put a hat on the door or something less obvious than that." Shane said and shook his head.

"Shut up, man." Michael said, but he smiled and followed Eve up the stairs. "Night." He called over his shoulder.

"Night." Claire and Shane both answered at the same time. Shane caught Claire's eye and smiled at her.

"It late." He said. "You should go to bed."

"So should you." Claire replied and smiled at the look on Shane's face.

"We both _should_ go to be but..." he said, a smile playing at the corners of his mouth.

"But..." Claire probed.

"But... neither of us really want to, do we?" Claire shook her head and looked him straight in the eye. She then got up and walked up the stairs. She threw a glance over her shoulder, clearly telling Shane what she wanted. He got the message and followed her upstairs. Claire walked to her bedroom door, opened it and then turned to face Shane.

"We should both totally go to bed." She said and looked up at him, the faint hint of a blush burning in her cheeks.

"Yeah we should." Shane agreed. They both looked at each other and then grinned at one another. Shane wrapped his arms around her waist and edged them both into her room. He pushed the door shut behind him. Claire lent up against him and locked it. He grinned at her and whispered in her ear, "Yeah we definately should." Suddenly, he picked Claire up around the waist and moved her over to the bed. Claire giggled and then spent the rest of the night in utter heaven.


End file.
